How the magic ended

By Kristina Kingsland
Reader Contributor

Once upon a time there was a magical land called Bonner County. It had majestic mountain ranges with thousands upon thousands of acres of public forests. It had creeks and rivers and lakes including the largest lake in Idaho. The waters were fresh and clean, soothing the eye and the soul, offering refreshment and reprieve from the heat on warm summer days. There were elk and moose and deer, there were eagles and hawks and woodpeckers, there were bears and bobcats and coyotes.   

A view of Camp Bay through the windowpanes of the historic homesteader cabin on the property. Photo by Ben Olson.

The people of Bonner County were brave and strong and honest, they had God in their hearts and they cared about each other. They lived in big houses and little houses, they lived in new houses and old houses, they lived in log houses and they lived in trailer houses. Some people lived in the forests, some people lived on the farms, some people lived near the waters and some people lived in the towns. The people were nice, they waved from their cars and they smiled in the stores, they said good morning on the sidewalks and they stopped to help when they saw a neighbor in need. 

The weather was wild but wonderful. In the spring the snow melted in the valleys and they turned vibrant shades green, the flowers bloomed a rainbow of colors and the bright white snow clung to the mountains as it swelled the creeks and rivers into rushing torrents of frothy water. The summers were warm where the sun smiled down on the land. The gardens grew, the children played in the refreshing waters and the people bustled with activity because even in the warmth of summer the people of Bonner County knew that winter was coming. Autumn was a time of abundance, the hay was in the barn, the garden goodies were making their way to the shelves, the children were excited to be starting a new year of school, and the people were admiring the beauty in the changing colors of the land and the lowering rays of the sun. Winter was a time of celebration, a time for charity, a time of camaraderie and a quiet time of contemplation.  In winter the people played in the snow and worked in the snow and hid from the snow in the welcome warmth of their homes.

Life was good and it went on year by year,  changing and growing bit by bit, and word of the magical land called Bonner county spread far and wide. 

People came and saw the majestic mountains, they swam in the refreshing waters, they admired the beauty of the moose and the eagle and the bear. People came and they made friends, they waved and they smiled. People came and they said “Life here is good! This place is beautiful, its people are friendly and I want to be one of them!”

People came and they came and they came. Bonner County grew and it grew and it grew. People who were brave came and people who were strong came and people who were honest came, these people had God in their hearts and they cared about each other and they cared about the magical land. The people who came bought houses, they bought big houses and little houses, they bought old houses and they bought new houses, they lived in the forest and they lived in the country and they lived by the water and they lived in the towns. The people drove vehicles, they drove trucks and they drove tractors,  they drove Subarus and they drove Toyotas, they drove four-wheelers and they drove snowmobiles. 

Life was good and it went on year by year,  changing and growing bit by bit, and word of the magical land called Bonner county spread far and wide. 

People came and skied the majestic mountains, they boated on the refreshing waters, they admired the happy people and they said “wow, I could make some money here!”

People who were smooth talking opportunists came, people who knew how to use the letter of the law to avoid the intent of the law came, people who thought they were smarter and more deserving than other people came.  These people had greed in their hearts and they did not care about other people and they did not care about the magical land.  These people bought land where they cut down all the trees,  they found ways around the law to subdivide the land without contributing to the services, they found ways to cut the land up into parcels smaller than what the people of the magical land had declared should be done. These people made money and they inspired the people of the magical land to make money and they inspired the people of the magical land to have greed in their hearts. These people drove vehicles, they drove huge trucks and fancy tractors, they drove Porsches and Mercedes-Benz, they drove little red sports cars that got lost in the pot holes and spun out in the snow.

Life went on year by year, changing and growing bit by bit, and word of the land called Bonner County and the money to be made there spread far and wide.

People came and they waited in the lift line to ski the majestic mountains, they went to swim in the refreshing waters but there was a no trespassing sign, they could not get a reservation at the restaurant with limited wait staff, yet still they said, “This is the best place I have ever seen!”

Those people did not know what the people of the magical land knew, they did not know the joy of waving from their cars, they did not expect a smile in the store, they did not want to say good morning on the sidewalk and they did not care if their neighbor was in need because they had never known how good it feels to care.

And the people from the magical land asked each other, “How do we bring the magic back?”

Kristina Kingsland has lived in North Idaho since 1976, attending Sagle Elementary, Priest Lake Elementary, Sandpoint Middle School and graduating from Sandpoint High in 1985. After traveling and living in Cape Cod, Alaska, Hawaii and the San Juan Islands, she realized what a special place Sandpoint is and moved home in January 1990. She is an associate broker with Evergreen Realty.